Family Christmas Photoshoot 2024

I usually try to take our family Christmas card photo on an overcast day. Overcast is the perfect lighting for outdoor photos. We were all set to do the photos on a nice overcast day, but then it started raining and I only snagged a couple practice shots of the kiddos. I loved the idea of my youngest getting a piggy-back ride from my oldest. Our middle daughter’s dress was the featured clothing that determined everyone else’s outfits.

Alas, November is here. I want to get the cards ordered, and it’s been sunny, sunny, sunny. A Google search suggested an hour before sunset might provide the next best light.

We did a “practice shoot” to see the lighting at the photo site. I once read that professional photographers assume one in eight photos will turn out. So when we do a photo shoot, we take a lot of photos! Here are a few favorites from our practice shoot.

Now that we knew a good time to get the right lighting, we changed into our coordinating outfits and headed back the next afternoon.

When I choose outfits, I pick one feature piece, in this case, my daughter’s dress, and then coordinate everyone else with the colors in that piece. I try to mix up solids and prints and plaids. I also try to mix up textures with knits, flannel, cotton, denim, and in this case, a velvet dress for myself. I try to keep personalities in mind and comfort is a high priority. If your family is uncomfortable, it’ll probably show in the photos.

My daughter loves to dress up and she’s a big fan of florals, my husband wears that type of snap front plaid shirt on most days, my oldest son loves to thrift shop and he was beaming when he found that flannel at Goodwill, my youngest son shopped online with me and picked out his favorite sweater from several colors and styles. I had three options for myself and I ended up choosing the clothing with the most movement. My other two options were shirts with pencil skirts. I felt like the pencil skirts were too restrictive for the beach. I also thought barefoot on the sand would look better than shoes on the sand. That part was uncomfortable because it was too cold.

My friend J.G. sent me some family pose ideas. We used a tripod, my husband’s iPhone, and his paired Apple watch to take the photos ourselves. I tried to replicate the “follow the leader” pose I’d seen, this took a while to figure out.

Then, somehow we let our children convince us that a human pyramid would be a good idea…

Maybe just the kiddos…

Pros of taking your own family photos:
– It’s much cheaper than hiring a professional photographer

Cons of taking your own family photos:
– It’s especially difficult to get candid or action shots
– It’s harder to get any/all the shots since you can’t see them until they’re done
– It’s difficult to position everyone “just so”

📸 Let me know which photo is your favorite in the comments below!